Today’s column is informed by the startling result of the governorship election held last Saturday in Ekiti State. Many are still in shock that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and current governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi lost woefully to Mr Ayodele Fayose of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). A frank dissection of that defeat calls for some home truth. After all, it was Mahatma Gandhi that once said: “Truth never damages a cause that is just.” Permit me to add… Read more

It never stops coming. The truth – the lesson – about Nigeria never keeps coming and striking us in the face. It never stops coming too – our uproarious reactions to the pains inflicted by Nigeria’s truth. The Nigerian truth came upon us strongly again last Saturday in Ado-Ekiti. And it will keep coming, no matter how loudly we scream our pain. One more mother among us lost a son –the last of the thousands of Yoruba mothers who have… Read more

On my way out of a birthday party of a dear friend a couple of nights ago, a neighbour confronted me thus, ‘what are we going to do about the Boko Haram on our street?’ To my question of ‘which Boko Haram?’ he retorted: ‘have you not noticed about six ‘Hausa boys’ who always converge at No 3? I was at my dismissive best and with my usual warmth I called him an ignorant bigot. I must say that everybody… Read more

SIR: I write in respect of the current/ongoing strike embarked on by Nigerian universities. I am an academic with deep passion for the development of Nigeria in all its facets and sectors – education, health, water, roads, housing, transportation (infrastructure in general). I am saddened that education which is the most vital sector of our economy is allowed to decay monumentally. For example, in the University of Calabar the same set of hostels we used in my school days Halls… Read more

The Central Bank of Nigeria, at its last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, introduced a new variant to the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR). It retained the ratio for private deposits at 12 per cent and raised that for the public sector. This, inadvertently, reduced the money available for lending, reports, COLLINS NWEZE. •Race for deposits over CRR hike begins It is common knowledge that government, whether at the centre, or states, is the biggest spender in the economy. That… Read more

The Central Bank of Nigeria, at its last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, introduced a new variant to the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR). It retained the ratio for private deposits at 12 per cent and raised that for the public sector. This, inadvertently, reduced the money available for lending, reports, COLLINS NWEZE. •Race for deposits over CRR hike begins It is common knowledge that government, whether at the centre, or states, is the biggest spender in the economy.… Read more

Nigerians at home and abroad need to accept that the truth can liberate while it can also hurt. One popular lesson learned from Christian scriptures is that the truth shall set people free. In other words, the truth shall liberate people troubled or otherwise from their inhibitions and put them on the road to salvation or redemption. This has not happened in the case of truth that Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale shot and chopped Drummer Lee Rigby a British… Read more

• Kwankwaso’s x-ray of the Boko Haram crisis calls for a complete overhaul of the northern system Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State hit the nail on the head when he declared dysfunctional youths from irresponsible parents create the nursery that feeds the Boko Haram insurrection. Speaking with visiting members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, the governor lamented the irresponsible conduct of some parents in the North who give… Read more

The Islamic sect, Boko Haram, is taking a much huger toll on us than the killings, arson and maiming that have become its trademark. While we are still grappling with burying hundreds of the sect’s victims, rebuilding places of worship, reconstructing ethnic and religious relationships, and peering warily into a future that is looking increasingly gloomy, the sect has both directly and indirectly created a unique trouble for everybody. So far, we have passed the stage of arguing over whether… Read more